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Jack Kerouac House
Jack Kerouac moved to this small
house on Clouser Avenue in College Park, part of Orlando, Florida in
1957 to wait for the release of his book, "On the Road". Some weeks
later, his review was written in the New York Times saying that
Kerouac was the voice of a new generation and spoken of as a new
major writer. His continuous friendship with William S. Burroughs,
Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg, plus numerous others would soon
become the epitome of the new generation called the Beat Generation.
The instant fame that he gained would become his nemesis and
eventual falling, but in the meantime, the author lead a great, if
somewhat, infamous life, much like others like Hemingway and others.
His novel was called the defining work of the post-WWII Beat
Generation and Kerouac would be called the king; which made him
quite uncomfortable. He was heard saying once that he was a
Catholic, not a beatnik, but in those days, anyone not conforming to
the establishment was called that and the beat group was merely the
forerunner of the later hippie generation, also called flower
children, and who the heck comes up with these weird names? Remember
Dobie Gillis and Maynard G. Krebs? They weren't beatniks, just
oddballs that today are called geeks, and have been for many
decades; but they must be part of the establishment because they
have become so prominent and very rich. Anyway, with the success of
the novel, On the Road, Jack was lifted into the highest peaks of
celebrityism and he was one of those individuals that didn't care
about fame or fortune or glory, he just wanted to do what he loved
doing. Within 9 months of the book's release, he felt unsafe in
public, probably like many of the celebrities of today feel, and one
night he was beaten by three men outside the San Remo Bar in New
York. Neal Cassady, the central character used for the book was set
up and arrested for selling marijuana. As publishers began screaming
for another book, or sequel to capitalize on the success of his
first book, Jack decided to chronicle some of his own experiences
with Buddhism and many adventures with Gary Snyder, as well as other
San Francisco area poets; into the book the Dharma Bums, which was
set in California and Washington state; published in 1958. The book
was written in Orlando, between November 26th and December 7, 1957.
To start the book, Jack started typing on a ten foot length of
teletype paper, so that his flow would not be interrupted for paper
changes; which he had done for his first book six years before.
After the book came out, he was demoralized by the criticism from
respected people in the American genre of Buddhism like Zen teacher
Ruth Fuller Sasaki and Alan Watts. In fact, he was so disenchanted
that he quit being a Buddhist and started drinking ever more.
Writing to his friends Gary and Whalen, he said he was too ashamed
to confront them. Jack also wrote a Beat movie called Pull My Daisy,
which he narrated in 1959. He moved to Northport, New York in 1958
to take care of his mother and to hide from the celebrity pinnacle
he had achieved. Later on in his life, he became a more politically
conservative Catholic, particularly with his parent's influence and
supported the Viet Nam War; as well as becoming friendly with
William F. Buckley. But on October 21, 1969, in St Petersburg,
Florida, at St. Anthony's Hospital, the day after he'd been brought
here with terrible stomach pains from his home in the city, he
passed on. The death was the result of internal hemorrhage caused by
cirrhosis, the lifetime of heavy drinking had done him in. He was
only 47. Jack is buried in Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was born
and honored posthumously with the Doctor of Letters from the
University of Massachusetts, Lowell June 2, 2007.
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